What should a woman do if she believes she is the mother of the second coming of Christ? This is the problem Lara Joyner faces when she comes to believe, through her visions, through the look on his face, through her cards, and through the thousands of hidden signs she sees in nature, that her son is Christ Incarnate.

Incarnate is the new novel by Lawrence Weill. I recently had the utmost pleasure of interviewing him, here’s what he had to say.

How did you get into Lara’s head?

I like the character I created in Lara, despite her flaws, and I wanted to be true to what would inspire her to do what she does.  As a philosopher, I am intrigued by the beliefs that motivate people.  One of the things I notice about our society is how willingly we embrace widely divergent viewpoints as our own, even when those beliefs seem mutually inconsistent, if they coincide with what we already want to believe.  For example, a friend may invite me to attend his Baptist church with him, and then ask me what astrological sign I am.

You may know someone who believes she is the reincarnation of Michelangelo and yet attends synagogue each week.  I wanted Lara to be informed by just such a set of dissimilar viewpoints. But it is important to the story that what she is looking for is not revelation so much as affirmation.  She already has her belief system; she needs a way for it to be true.

What inspired you to write Incarnate?

It is deeply embedded in our culture that there will be a second coming.  If that is the prophesy, it is natural enough for someone to believe it has happened.  I wanted to write the story of what happens if a mother actually believes her child is that incarnation of God.  One fascinating aspect of such a worldview would be that she would need to believe that she herself was holy.  There are passages in Incarnate where Lara deifies herself, embracing a sanctified image of herself.  Once she is able to see herself in such a light, the world of those around her is forever altered. I wanted to paint that picture, the world Lara has developed, and its effect on those around her.

How long did it take you to write Incarnate?

That is an interesting question because parts of Incarnate are mined from earlier writings of mine.  Chapters 11 and 12 are based upon a poem I wrote nearly forty years ago.  Chapter 27 was originally a short story, although in substantially different form, that I wrote some twenty years ago.  Actually, that chapter became the anchor for the book, the impetus for the bigger story.  But the actual writing and revising of the novel probably took fifteen years.

What genre would you say Incarnate falls into?

Literary fiction.  It is a psychological drama that delves into why people behave as they do, how they interact, and how they confront reality in the face of their own perception.

How did you keep positive and motivated while writing Incarnate?

The characters I created ended up taking on a certain independence within me.  Faulkner noted that it begins with creating the character, and once he is up and running around, the writer just follows him around and writes down what he says and does.  These characters I developed I like, I care what happens to them, so I followed them diligently, but also with concern.  That kept me very motivated and kept me positive.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Think in bits, not in blitz.  If you are waiting for that big stretch of time that you can devote to writing your opus, it simply will not come.  We fill up time.  Whenever I have some big project due, for some reason that’s when I must clean out the storage building. I think we all have a tendency to do that.  Instead of waiting for the big block of time, find your peak time (mine is mid-morning) and write every day.  Write for an hour every day, and the work will appear.  I write two, maybe three pages a day.  Then my creative juices seem to run dry for the day.  If I try to write more, I almost never like what I have written that last hour.  If I write two pages a day, I have a draft of my novel in six months.

What were some of the challenges you faced while writing Incarnate and how did you overcome them?

One of the biggest challenges in writing Incarnate involved trying to tell the story in the various perspectives of the different characters in the novel.  That meant I had to make very deliberate shifts of view within myself as I wrote.  For example, one chapter of Incarnate might be from the father Frank’s point of view and the next one I worked on might have been from the perspective of Louis, who is five.  That shifting sometimes involved an almost physical transference within my mind.  That was a challenge.

You are a visual artist, where do you get your inspiration from?

As a visual artist, there are actually two different sides to my art: the two-dimensional and the three dimensional.  My sculptures tend to be more imagistic.  I try to create an image for the viewer to place herself within the work.  As a result, my sculptures are not generally representational in the usual use of that word, but more abstract.  On the other hand, in my drawings, photographs and, for the most part, my paintings, I am focused on representing the textures and depth of the subject.  The photograph “Bucket,” for example, is my attempt to bring the viewer into the depth of the warehouse space through the perspective of the windows, the reflections, and the vanishing points.  The colors of the wood also help. You can view my art at www.lawrenceweill.com.

Tell me about the cover for Incarnate. I see a woman’s face superimposed in the bark of a tree… Is there a story behind that?

Originally, I had proposed one of my photographs for the cover, but the publisher wanted something more attention getting, so this photograph was actually one that was available on an art page the publisher sent to me.  I chose the cover art because I liked the way it gets across the subtext of the book but also has a striking image.

What’s next for you?

I am working on a couple of other literary projects, one in the category of creative non-fiction that involves a series of stories about my father and  the other a novel about a man who decides one day to walk away from everything and everyone he knows.

Thank you Lawrence we wish you all success with Incarnate! Click on the link to  purchase a copy of Incarnate.

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